After Glitches in Test, Law Graduates Who Took Bar Exam Offered a Small Consolation

Last summer, law school graduates racked up some of the lowest scores in nearly a decade on the all-important bar exam. As the test takers and several law school deans viewed it, the poor results were not the fault of the graduates. Rather, it was a computer glitch that prevented them from uploading their completed exams on the first day of the multiday test.

Now, those test takers are being offered a small amount for their suffering: about $90 a person.

The company that makes the software for the bar exam, ExamSoft Worldwide Inc., is settling a class-action lawsuit, and a federal judge in Miami gave preliminary approval last week to what will cost the company $2.1 million to settle the case.

The money may be of little consolidation to the tens of thousands who took the exam in July in 43 states. Those who failed must take the exam again if they want the necessary credentials to become a practicing attorney.

Last year, angry applicants complained that, even as they were preparing for a second day of exams, they tried unsuccessfully multiple times to file the answers to their completed first-day test electronically.

A spokesman for ExamSoft said at the time that delays resulted from a “processing issue” and that the exam’s content and reliability were not affected.

When a group of more than 80 law school deans questioned the exam’s overseer, the National Conference of Bar Examiners, about the contents and scoring of the test, they were assured that the results were solid.

Law school deans rushed to defend their students, blaming the bar examiners’ group for a murky test-creation process. They also pointed to the added stress of the computer issues.

Writing in a legal blog this month, Prof. Jerome M. Organ, at the University of St. Thomas Law School in Minneapolis, asks that because takers spent a night “completely anxious and stressed out trying repeatedly and unsuccessfully to upload their essay answers, should it be a surprise that they might have underperformed somewhat” the next day?

The law school graduates, naturally, filed several suits, which were consolidated into a federal class-action case. They argued that they had paid up to $150 in fees for the electronic filing but that the system’s shortcomings caused many to try fruitlessly to file exam answers.

As with many class-action settlements, the affected test-takers can opt out of the offer, so this may not be the end of the controversy.

For now, the computer company said it was “sincerely sorry” for the delays last year. Kenneth Knotts, ExamSoft’s vice president for marketing, said that the company had made changes to improve its technology and its communication with test takers. That includes setting up a new website as a clearinghouse for information about the test.